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BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown joined a coalition of 16 attorneys general filing a lawsuit challenging unlawful actions by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), including threats to withhold funding from state and local fair housing enforcement agencies for abiding by state laws and to impose unlawful conditions on HUD funding. These actions threaten to weaken America’s fair housing enforcement system and undermine states’ ability to ensure equal access to housing. If unchallenged, discrimination in housing is almost certain to increase.
“HUD is threatening to cut off funding to the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights unless we abandon our State’s fair housing laws to advance President Trump’s political agenda,” said Attorney General Brown. “LGBTQ Marylanders, veterans and military families, housing voucher recipients, and Marylanders facing discrimination based on their marital status depend on these critical safeguards to secure housing. We will not be bullied into turning our backs on the people these laws were built to protect.”
“This action is critically important to protecting the integrity of our nation’s fair housing enforcement system. For decades, the partnership between HUD and state and local agencies has allowed communities like Maryland to effectively investigate and remedy housing discrimination. Attempts to weaken that partnership or force states to abandon protections that are enshrined in our own laws threaten to roll back hard-fought civil rights progress. The Maryland Commission on Civil Rights is prepared to stand firmly in the gap for all Marylanders. At moments like this, when core civil rights protections are being challenged, it is essential that state and local agencies remain steadfast in their commitment to fairness and justice. Our mission is clear: we will continue to enforce the law, protect vulnerable communities, and do what is right for the citizens of our great state. Every Marylander deserves the opportunity to live free from discrimination and with equal access to housing,” said Maryland Commission on Civil Rights (MCCR) Executive Director Cleveland L. Horton II.
Sixty years ago, Congress enacted the Fair Housing Act to address pervasive housing discrimination. Congress also created a robust partnership between HUD and state and local agencies, known as the Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP), to enforce this landmark civil rights law in tandem with state fair housing laws. The FHAP has had strong bipartisan support in Congress and stable funding since it was established in 1980.
In their lawsuit being filed today, Attorney General Brown and the coalition allege that the Trump administration is seeking to unlawfully undermine this partnership by attacking states’ ability to combat housing discrimination under their own state laws. Through the FHAP, HUD refers allegations of housing discrimination to state and local partner agencies for investigation and enforcement. These agencies receive HUD funding, which they use to process housing discrimination complaints, train staff, and support community outreach and education.
In September 2025, HUD issued guidance to the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights (MCCR) and partner agencies in other states, threatening to decertify them from the program and cut off funding unless they stop enforcing crucial protections against housing discrimination, including protections based on sexual orientation, gender identity, source of income, military status, and marital status. The guidance also bars agencies from pursuing claims targeting housing practices that may appear neutral but, in reality, are discriminatory and have a disparate impact on certain populations. In Maryland and many other states, these fair housing protections are enshrined in or otherwise permitted under state law.
In addition to the threat to decertify partner agencies, HUD is attempting to impose vague, ideologically motivated, and unlawful conditions on program funding, without explaining how these agencies could run afoul of such conditions in their fair housing enforcement work.
In their complaint, Attorney General Brown and the coalition assert that the Administration’s actions will raise the costs of enforcing state and federal fair housing laws in their states. They also argue that HUD’s vague conditions will sow confusion over enforcement.
The attorneys general note that this unlawful ultimatum comes after HUD gutted its own fair housing enforcement capabilities by slashing its headcount and significantly reducing the number of housing discrimination cases it charges. The agency also fired employee whistleblowers after they publicly sounded the alarm about its decimation of fair housing enforcement.
The coalition’s lawsuit alleges that HUD’s guidance violates the Spending Clause of the U.S. Constitution and the federal Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how federal agencies implement rule changes.
Joining Attorney General Brown in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
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